MONDAY morning. It’s more or less an average day at the Bowditch household in Peregian Beach, Queensland.

There’s work to be done, bread to be put on the table. Mum Robyn started her mail-sorting shift at 4am. Dad Barry is driving his truck. He used to be a cement renderer before the aches and pains got to him.

Yep, just another day. Except for one minor detail. The Bowditches’ 30-year-old son Steven just pocketed $1.2 million by winning the prestigious Texas Open on America’s PGA golf tour.

Not that the Bowditches broke their work routine to watch. Despite Steven holding a three-stroke lead heading into the final round, they still went to work as usual.

Steven’s big brother Adam, a 39-year-old Wollongong chippie who is up north visiting his folks this week, caught every thrilling minute on TV. He said there was no indication that after a moderate start to the year, this would be the break-out week of Steven’s 13-year professional career.

“With Steve you don’t know what’s going to happen week-to-week. You play it by ear.”

Stroke of genius... Bowditch won overnight by a margin of one. Marianna Massey/Getty ImagSource:AFP

This is so much more than your classic Aussie-battler-conquers-America yarn.

This story is about the very will to live. Steven Bowditch’s struggle with depression has been much chronicled, but never better than in Golf Digest four years ago.

That story detailed a man with severe clinical depression. Bowditch’s symptoms were physical at first. Debilitating headaches, sudden nosebleeds, acute insomnia. At first doctors suspected a brain tumour. It was almost a relief when the diagnosis was “just” depression.

But the depression worsened. With it came drinking, and above all, an overwhelming feeling of helplessness, futility and dissatisfaction with the routine of a professional sportsman.

This is the then 17-year-old Bowditch alongside Greg Norman in the final round of the AusSource:News Limited

In one memorable image in the Golf Digest story, Bowditch detailed how he was walking down the fairway watching people having a barbecue, thinking ‘How good would a steak be right now’. He even went over and asked the people for a steak.

Think about that for a minute. Most of us would be cooking the steak and wishing we could crunch golf balls for a living. For this poor tortured soul, it was the other way around. He craved normality. It was the one thing his illness denied him.

In April 2006, Bowditch reportedly went 12 straight nights without sleeping. He skolled a whole bottle of Scotch, slept for two days, woke up, put on all his heavy clothes, jumped in the pool and tried to drown himself.

His then girlfriend pulled him out and resuscitated him, thank god.

Bowditch in 2007, shortly after his recovery began in earnest. Pic John WilsonSource:News Limited

Bowditch later went on to become a spokesman for beyondblue, the national initiative to raise awareness of anxiety and depression.

“Steven has long-struggled with depressive conditions and several years ago he publicly explained his plight while raising money for beyondblue,” beyondblue Chairman Jeff Kennett said today.

“Steven today is yet another example to anyone who experiences depressive or anxiety conditions, that by seeking professional help and staying focused you cannot only overcome your own struggles, but can rightly be called a champion.”

But the reality, as Bowditch illustrated, is that depression is rarely as simple as get sick, get help, get better.

Bowditch played much of his best golf in the mid 2000s while he was at his lowest emotional ebb. Then when he started to find his feet in life again, his golf game fell away.

It’s the precise opposite of what you’d expect. As Bowditch told Golf Digest in 2009, “The psychiatrist found that very strange”.

The moral of this story is that depression impacts everyone differently. There are no quick fixes, no formulas that work for all. The key is to recognise you need help.

That’s ultimately what saved Steven Bowditch’s life. He admitted he needed help and he sought it.

“[His win] shows that with the appropriate support, people with depression or anxiety are capable of achieving the extraordinary,” Mr Kennett added today.

Next stop for Bowditch is the Masters Tournament next week, which he will contest alongside Adam Scott and four other Aussies. That’s just one of the privileges he earned with his win today.

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